Exhibitions

‘La Mort de Louis XIII’, 1731, by Jean-François de Troy

Death watch

19 November 2015 3:00 pm

At the beginning of the summer of 1715 Louis XIV complained of a pain in the leg. In mid-August gangrene…

Alexander Calder: the man who made abstract art fly

14 November 2015 9:00 am

One day, in October 1930, Alexander Calder visited the great abstract painter Piet Mondrian in his apartment in Paris. The…

The man who made abstract art fly

12 November 2015 3:00 pm

One day, in October 1930, Alexander Calder visited the great abstract painter Piet Mondrian in his apartment in Paris. The…

M.C. Escher: limited, repetitive, but he deserves a place in art history

7 November 2015 9:00 am

‘Surely,’ mused the Dutch artist M.C. Escher, ‘it is a bit absurd to draw a few lines and then claim:…

M.C. Escher: limited, repetitive, but he deserves a place in art history

5 November 2015 3:00 pm

‘Surely,’ mused the Dutch artist M.C. Escher, ‘it is a bit absurd to draw a few lines and then claim:…

Unreliable evidence

29 October 2015 3:00 pm

I hadn’t really thought much about pixels before, despite spending a large portion of my day looking at them. After…

Hanging offence

29 October 2015 3:00 pm

Modern Scottish Men, a new exhibition celebrating the achievements of male artists in the 20th century, opens next month in…

Hot seats: Charles and Ray Eames posing with chair bases

Intelligent design

29 October 2015 3:00 pm

Peter Mandelson, in his moment of pomp, had his portrait taken by Lord Snowdon. He is sitting on a fine…

Why I find women-only exhibitions depressing

29 October 2015 9:00 am

Modern Scottish Men, a new exhibition celebrating the achievements of male artists in the 20th century, opens next month in…

Hot seats: Charles and Ray Eames posing with chair bases

The couple behind the world’s most famous chair

29 October 2015 9:00 am

Peter Mandelson, in his moment of pomp, had his portrait taken by Lord Snowdon. He is sitting on a fine…

How the pixel became a key feature of drone warfare

29 October 2015 9:00 am

I hadn’t really thought much about pixels before, despite spending a large portion of my day looking at them. After…

Repetitive but compelling: Giacometti at the National Portrait Gallery reviewed

24 October 2015 9:00 am

One day in 1938 Alberto Giacometti saw a marvellous sight on his bedroom ceiling. It was ‘a thread like a…

Repetitive but compelling: Giacometti at the National Portrait Gallery reviewed

22 October 2015 2:00 pm

One day in 1938 Alberto Giacometti saw a marvellous sight on his bedroom ceiling. It was ‘a thread like a…

With this Tate Britain exhibition, Frank Auerbach joins the masters

17 October 2015 8:00 am

No sooner had I stepped into the private view of Frank Auerbach’s exhibition at Tate Britain than I bumped into…

With this Tate Britain exhibition, Frank Auerbach joins the masters

15 October 2015 2:00 pm

No sooner had I stepped into the private view of Frank Auerbach’s exhibition at Tate Britain than I bumped into…

Why did Goya’s sitters put up with his brutal honesty?

10 October 2015 9:00 am

Sometimes, contrary to a widespread suspicion, critics do get it right. On 17 August, 1798 an anonymous contributor to the…

Why did Goya’s sitters put up with his brutal honesty?

8 October 2015 2:00 pm

Sometimes, contrary to a widespread suspicion, critics do get it right. On 17 August, 1798 an anonymous contributor to the…

‘Dead Rabbit’, 1962, by Dennis Creffield

On the frontiers of figuration, abstraction and total immateriality

3 October 2015 8:00 am

The artist, according to Walter Sickert, ‘is he who can take a piece of flint and wring out of it…

‘Dead Rabbit’, 1962, by Dennis Creffield

Now you see it, now you don’t

1 October 2015 1:00 pm

The artist, according to Walter Sickert, ‘is he who can take a piece of flint and wring out of it…

Yuri Gagarin in the cabin of Vostok, the spacecraft in which he made the first human journey to outer space on 12 April, 1961

When technology was art: Cosmonauts at the Science Museum reviewed

26 September 2015 8:00 am

‘The dominant narrative of space,’ I was told, in that strange language curators employ, ‘is America.’ Quite so. Kennedy stared…

‘Night in Marrakesh’, 1968, by Brion Gysin

Cut-ups, hallucinations and Hermann Goering: the extraordinary life of Brion Gysin

26 September 2015 8:00 am

Among my more bohemian friends in 1980s London, Brion Gysin was a name spoken with a certain awe. He was…

Detail from Gundestrup cauldron, 100 BC–AD 1

The British Museum's Celtic masterpieces aren't Celtic - but they are fabulous

26 September 2015 8:00 am

‘Celtic’ is a word heavily charged with meanings. It refers, among other phenomena, to a football club, a group of…

‘Night in Marrakesh’, 1968, by Brion Gysin

Indiscreet astronaut

24 September 2015 1:00 pm

Among my more bohemian friends in 1980s London, Brion Gysin was a name spoken with a certain awe. He was…

Yuri Gagarin in the cabin of Vostok, the spacecraft in which he made the first human journey to outer space on 12 April, 1961

Stars in their eyes

24 September 2015 1:00 pm

‘The dominant narrative of space,’ I was told, in that strange language curators employ, ‘is America.’ Quite so. Kennedy stared…

Detail from Gundestrup cauldron, 100 BC–AD 1

Melting pot

24 September 2015 1:00 pm

‘Celtic’ is a word heavily charged with meanings. It refers, among other phenomena, to a football club, a group of…